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Tag Archives: sonia bishop

Thank you, everyone, for all the enthusiasm and support over the last few weeks. Now that we have three patterns launched and only the Goldstream Peacoat left to tackle in the Parkland Casual Menswear Collection (a BIG project!), we are looking forward to our next collection and our many plans for Thread Theory. Here is a bit of an overview of where we are sitting with Thread Theory right now seeing as we have completed our first quarter of sales and are well into our second – the Newcastle Cardigan was launched May 15th. I can’t believe how much has been accomplished since then! We have been absolutely in awe of the Jedediah pants that have been popping up on Kollabora for the Jedediah Sew-Along contest – good luck to everyone who is entering! I am glad that the winner will be chosen based on public voting because I could never choose my favorite…I’ve been ‘hearting’ them all (head on over to ‘heart’ your favorite before September 16th!).

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We have also been receiving a large selection of requests from websites and brick and mortar stores all over the world who would like to become stockists. As you may have noticed on the blog and website, we currently have two web-based stores stocking our PDF patterns: Stitch 56 based out of Australia, and Pattern Review from the United States. Most stockists would, of course, prefer to sell printed versions of our patterns so, while we are still accepting stockists for our PDF patterns if they have a system put in place for selling digital downloads, we are busily gathering a list of stockists who would like to open wholesale accounts for printed patterns…

And I guess that leads me to the next activity that we have been working on in the Thread Theory studio: we are currently in the process of putting our first three patterns into print! The process has gone very smoothly so far and we are so excited for the moment when we will have our gorgeously designed envelopes in our hands (expect a thorough photo shoot of the moment…this is something that has to be thoroughly recorded for the Thread Theory yearbook :P). We are working with Sonia Bishop, a talented graphic designer who just so happens to date Matt’s brother, Mike. It has been fun to keep it in the family – because of this, we even got to hold a ‘business meeting’ on the back of Mike’s sailboat as we dried off after a dip in the ocean, complete with sunshine and beers in hand! Now THAT is a reason I like owning my own business! Apart from the benefits of working with someone we enjoy hanging out with, Sonia has a ton of enthusiasm for the image we want to create with our packaging and I have no doubt that you will all love what she comes up with! We are also beginning to work with a very admirable printing company based out of Vancouver who operates so efficiently that they are officially carbon neutral. We love the range of recycled papers that they have to offer and their sales team has really taken the effort to understand what we are envisioning for the pattern packaging and have offered some really interesting options that I think will make the packaging really work for the sewer. I hope I am right in imagining that no one wants another crinkled and ripped envelope to add to their already chaotic pattern boxes or shelves – I think we have figured out a way to make our packaging super sturdy and easy to re-use so that our patterns will become staples to be used many times!

In blogging news, I want to show off Maider’s really well sewn version of the Newcastle Cardigan. She made the cardigan for her boyfriend’s birthday and when he opened up his present, he thought that it was store bought! I can see why, she did a great job of finishing the insides and the wine coloured fabric that she chose works really nicely with the design.

Beautifully finished interior!

I like that she included the shoulder details but kept them in self fabric instead of using a contrast. This created a really subtle detail which was a perfect spot to highlight her VERY straight top-stitching!

Look at that perfect top-stitching!

Also, thank you to Laura of Behind the Hedgerow for including Thread Theory in her list of her “Top 10 Autumn Selfish Sewing Patterns”…even if menswear garments wouldn’t really be selfish sewing for her! We are flattered to be mentioned in her list of amazing pattern companies and I couldn’t agree more with her choice of Victory Pattern’s Roxanne pattern – I have been meaning to make up that pattern for ages because I LOVE that collar. Sown Brooklyn’s version is pretty much the TOP item on my list of things that get me inspired to sew at the moment.

Are you curious about what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ at Thread Theory? I always love reading Tasia’s monthly reports over at Sewaholic patterns and probably wouldn’t have had the courage to start my own pattern company without her very matter of fact and wonderfully open reports on her own experience. I hope that we are fairly transparent over here in the menswear corner of the indie pattern company world and would love to answer any questions you ever have about us!